All India services are controlled by the central government. Selected candidates are appointed to different state cadres and as and when required they also move to Central Government Jobs on deputation.

IAS officers are trained to handle government affairs. This being the main responsibility , every     civil  servant is assigned to a particular office which deals with policy matters pertaining to that     area. The     policy matters are framed, modified, interpreted in this office under the direct     supervision of the     Administrative Officer in consultation with the Minister. The implementation     of policies is also done     on the advice of the officer.

The implementation process involves supervision and touring. The allocation of enormous funds to     and by the field officers calls for supervision and the officials concerned have to reply to queries made in the parliament for which they must remain well informed.

The civil servant has also to represent the Government in another country or in international     forums. At the level of deputy secretary, he is even authorized to sign agreements on behalf of the government.

This cadre maintains the diplomatic relations with foreign countries. IFS is an All India Service. Probationers are attached to the Ministry of External Affairs to a particular desk, e.g., U.K., U.S.A., Italy, Spain. Pakistan, etc…The probationer is expected to learn the language of that     country and spend most of his time in the same country. During the second year of probation, they are sent to the country for which they are groomed. They are posted as Third Secretaries in the Indian Embassy of that country.

IFS officers get attractive perks on postings abroad,e.g., free furnished house, education,outfit and liberal medical allowances etc.

The Indian police services are responsible for internal security, public safety and law and order. It     has various departments under the charge of IPS officer viz. the crime branch, the investigation department (CID), Home guards and Traffic Police.

The IPS officer takes charge as an Assistant Superintendent of Police of a Sub-division after probation of 2 years. The tenure of this post is normally 2 years. The next appointment is as superintendent of Police and then as DIG. They are incharge of law and order along with the IAS officer who is appointed as DM at the district level.

Work  Opportunities

Responsibilities vary with the seniority of the civil servant. Junior officers began with probation and move up in the hierarchy. At the district level the responsibilities are concerned with district matters as well as all developmental affairs while at the divisional level the responsibilities focus on law and order also. Policy framing is carried on at the central level.

Central Service (Group A)

Railways are the life line of the country. There are several opportunities for employment in the railways. Here we are concerned with entry into the railway service (Central Service) and the induction through the UPSC(Selection Commission)Into its Various branches. 

Branches to which central services officers seconded in the railways Indian railway traffic services (IRTS)-IRTS has two functions  (a) Commercial (b) Operations. 

Indian Railway Accounts Service (‘IRAS’)-IRAS is in charge of all the accounts of the railways, i.e., income, expenditures, etc. The IRAS officers begin at Divisional Headquarters as Assistant Accounts Officers. 

Railway Police Service(‘RPF’)-RPF men receive training at Baroda. They follow the same promotional structure as other rail way tracks, personnel, equipment, etc. 

Indian Railway Personal Service – This branch looks after recruitment of all railway staff (Inspectors, drivers, to IRTS officers), planning of such recruitments, deciding promotions, postings, training, welfare, etc., in fact all work concerning personnel.

The officers work with field officers in various capacities during probation so as to learn about the entire functioning of the service. When training is over the appointment is as senior superintendent of post offices or Railway Mail in large district towns and Divisional Headquarters.

The comptroller and Auditor General of India(C&AG) is one of the Constitutional authorities, like the chairman, UPSC or the election Commissioner, The Comptroller and Auditor General is responsible for maintenance of accounts in the states as well as Audit of Accounts of the Union as well as the State Governments. The Indian Audit and Accounts service is under the control of the C&AG.

The Indian Defence Accounts Service (IDAS) is responsible for maintaining the complete accounts of the Defence Services. The First position after appointment is Assistant Controller of Defence Accounts. The defence accounts offices in cantonment, states and defence command headquarters are under  the jurisdiction of the IDAS.

The management of cantonment is under the care of Defence Estate Service. The appointment on completion of probation is that of Executive Officer Class I or Class II of cantonments. The senior most position is this service is of Director General Defence Estate.

The separation of accounts from audit at the union level has led to the creation of the new Indian Civil Accounts cadre. The comptroller and Auditor General of India does not, however, control this cadre but the Secretary (Expenditure) in the ministry of Finance. (Government of India) exercises this function.

The Indian Revenue Service has two wings. one being Income – Tax and the other Customs and Central Exercise.

Customs officers are posted at international airports and ports like, Mumbai, Calcutta, Chennai, Goa, etc. they are also liable to be posted at other border and coastal towns. Their principal duty is to levy customs duty on goods which are brought into the country and are liable to duty. After probation, customs officers get posted as Assistant Commissioners (Customs). They are promoted in due course as Deputy Commissioners(Customs),Additional Commissioners(Customs),Commissioners(Customs),Member(Central Board of Excise and Customs) and Chairman (Central Board of Excise and Customs).

Officers of Indian Revenue Service (Income – Tax) enter training at their academy at Nagpur. After training they are posted as Assistant Commissioners either on assessment or other work. While the main work of the department is assessment and recovery of direct taxes, the department has specialized branches dealing with investigation of tax evasion, Statistics, and so on with Assistant Directors(of the same rank as assistant commissioners of Income tax) the assistant Commissioners/ Deputy Directors, Communication Chief Commissioners are members(Central board of Direct Taxes) in due course. The Head of the Department is the Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes who is invariably a Member of the Indian Revenue Service (Income-tax).

Ordinance Factories manufacture equipment for the defence Services. The IOFS officers serve in these factories for a long span of nearly 10 years. They may be asked to serve as Commissioned officers of the Armed forces for 4 years. At the apex of the IOFS is the Chairman equivalent to a Secretary followed by members of the Ordinance factories or Director General Ordinance Factories and then by General Manger. The senior and Junior Scales positions are very much like other services.

Earlier Known as Central Information Service, the IIS is as recent as 1987. The job of officials from this service is to constitute a press party, organize press conferences, control official media, organize festivals(National and international),etc. the service has lot of charm and glamour and considerable scope for creativity.

Personnel from the Central Trade Services work with the Ministry of Commerce (Chief Controller of Imports  and Exports)primarily but may also work with other Ministries or public sector undertakings. Beginning as Assistant Chief Controllers of Imports and Exports, they rise to the position of Deputy Chief Controller of Imports and Exports. The next position is that of a Joint Chief Controller Imports and Exports or Chairman of a Public Sector unit. Most officers of this service stay in large metropolitan towns.

Industries too need protection especially the large network of Public Sector Undertakings. The CISF officers head this organization. Assistant Commandant is the first position for these officers, the promotion then being that of Deputy Commandant. The senior positions are that of Commandants or Additional Inspectors. The job is to head the infrastructural set up of security staff to man the industries.

Work Opportunities

Central Services has two cadres, Group A and B. The Cadres come under central control and the officers selected are appointed in  Central Service in any state of the country but are not part of state cadre.

Officers of central Service are posted in bigger towns or at the centre with the Government of India. The Senior Administrative Grade of the Central Services is Equivalent to the IAS Super time Scale.

Group B Central Services

The Central Government for purpose of criminal investigation of complex nature has formed this organization and recruits officers as Deputy Superintendent of Police in Group B Services.

Candidates selected for this services are appointed as Section Officers / Selection Grade(SG)Officers/Grade I posts . The training period is of 2 years after which appointment is made to a particular Ministry. Ministry of Personnel places the SG and Grade I Officers.

Armed Forces (Army, Navy, Air Force) Headquarters and other inter service bodies under the Defence Ministry have civilian staff who are responsible for office administration.

This cadre is the general administration staff in the Railway Ministry.

Officer incharge of assessment and evaluation of imported goods in custom houses and custom departments are appointed in this service. They are trained at the Custom Staff college.

Pondicherry, Andaman & Nicobar, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Delhi Police Service are centrally administered. Selected officers are appointed to Police Departments of Union Territories and also to Pondicherry civil service.

Study and Training

he Civil Service Examinations conducted for the recruitment to All India services mentioned above have been the most popular examinations in India since independence. The stages for the examination is

The Civil Service Examination is held in phases – the first is called the Preliminary Examination (‘Prelims’) and the second is the Main Examination (‘Mains’). Following that is a Personality Test or a viva voce before the final selection.

Eligiblity:

Exams

The prelims are meant to serve only as a screening test to and is not counted for determining  the final

 The Prelims consist of two objective type multiple choice question papers with maximum marks of 450. The first paper of 150 marks is on General Studies. The second requires candidates to answer questions from the following subjects for 300 marks : Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science, Botany, Chemistry, Civil Engineering, Commerce, Economics, Electrical engineering, Geography, Geology, Indian history, Law, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Medical Science, Philosophy, Physics, Psychology, Public Administration, Sociology, Statistics, and Zoology.

The question papers are set both in Hindi and English and each paper is for 2 hours.

The number of Candidates generally admitted for the mains is about 12-13 times the total number of estimated vacancies to be filled in that year in the various services and posts. Those obtaining such minimum qualifying marks, as fixed by the commission, are call interview. Aggregate marks obtained in the Mains (Written as well as interview) determine the final ranking of the selected candidate. Selected candidates are then allotted to various service keeping in view their ranks and expressed preferences.

The written Examination consists of eight papers of conventional subject (essay) type questions each carrying 300 marks. The details are as under:

Paper I – One of the Indian languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution.(Assamese Bengali,Gujarati,Hindi,Kannada,Kashmiri,Malayalam   Marathi,Oriya,Punjabi,Sanskrit,Sindhi,Tamil,Telugu and Urdu.)

Paper II – English

Paper III Essay and IV and V – General Studies

Paper VI,VII,VIII and IX – any two of the following subjects: Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science, Anthropology, Botany, Chemistry, Civil Engineering, Commerce and Accountancy, Economics, Electrical Engineering,Geography,Geology,History,Law,Literature of any one of these languages – Bengali, Chinese, Gujarati,Hindi,Kannada,Kashmiri,Marathi,Malayalam,Oriya,Pali,Punjabi,

Sanskrit,Sindhi,Tamil,Telugu,Urdu,Arabic,Manipuri,Nepali,Konkani,Assamese,Persian,German,French,Russian and English, Management, Mathematics,Mechanical Engineering,Medical

Science,Philosophy,Physics,Political Science and international Relations,Psychology,Public Administration,Sociology,Statistics and  Zoology.

Question papers are of the Conventional essay type,each Carrying 300 marks.The papers on Indian Languages and English(I and II) are of qualifying nature and the marks obtained in these are not counted for the ranking. Their standard is of Matriculation level.it is to be noted that the papers on General Studies and the certain minimum standard in the qualifying papers of Indian Languages and English.

It is the last leg of the selection procedure carrying 250 marks with no minimum qualifying marks. The candidate is interviewed by a board, having before them a record of his/her career. The interview technique used a natural one. Through directed and purposive conversation and attempt is made to understand the candidate’s mental qualities.

This job involves introduction of new products to customers, configuration of customer solutions, and providing technical support and installations for major customers. Technology Managers are responsible for designing and implementing underlying IT infrastructure for the ERP/ CRM solutions at customer sites. They are also involved in system/network design phase as well as in implementation phase, planning, sourcing, and implementing technologies in the company as well as training staff on new technology.

An all India forest service was created in 1966 for better and integrated forest management. It has a separate selection test conducted by UPSC. Aspirants to this service mush have a keen interest in the forest wealth, of the country and in its management and conservation. They are to be placed in command of the forest resource both for supply and protection. The multifarious nature of their responsibility makes this service a challenging career. State Services also conduct their own exam for state cadre.

Forest officer is on probation for 2 year followed by allocation to the state cadre.

UPSC conducts examination each year for IES or ISS.Candidate have to give preference for the service. On completion of training and passing the department examinations they are placed on probation period before being transferred for service in India or abroad.

A combined competitive examination for all India engineering services in (1) Indian Railway ii)Railway Stores,iii)Military Engineering Service(iv)Border Road v)Central Water Engineering vi)Indian Ordinance Service vii)Central Engineering Services(Roads) viii)Engineering Service P&T ix)Central Engineering Service(Mech). Candidates qualifying in written examination are offered jobs on merit and choice the organization they desire to join examination and selections are done for following branches: 

Geologists Examination is conducted for selecting candidates for appointment in Geological Survey of India. They are also selected for appointment in the Central Ground Water Board.

Custom Service

The Revenue Department of the Ministry of Finance has under its purview the Customs and Central Excise Department. The apex body – a Chairman and about half a dozen members forms the Central Board of Excise and Customs. There are thirty Four Central Excise Collectorates  and half a dozen Customs Collectorates in India. Each Collectorate is headed by a Collector who is assisted by Additional Collectors/Deputy Collectors and Assistant Collectors. There are also a number of Directorates such as the Directorate or Revenue Intelligence, Directorate of Anti Evasion (Central Excise),Directorate of Training, Directorate of Inspection and Audit etc, which are a part of the Customs and Central Excise departments.

Work Opportunities

The functions of Customs and Central Excise Department fall under tow categories.

Prevention of evasion of customs and excise duties.the customs officials work at airports, seaports and dockyards checking / incoming / outgoing people/ships cargo for compliance to import/export licencing procedures. The work involves physical examination of aircrafts,ships,cargo,vehicles and frisking of passengers etc…for detecting concealment of goods and duty evasion.

Excise officials similarly monitor compliance in the trade,movement,marketing of goods on which excise is levied.

Evaluation of goods and collection  of duties accruing to the government

Both the prevention and appraisal wings of the customs and central excise department function under an office of the rank of assistant commissioner.

Through UPSC

Officer of the Customs and Central Excise service are appointed through the UPSC examination(see chapter on Civil Services) and are first posted as Senior Superintendents. Those candidates who miss the class I services by a few marks are appointed in the group B service as Appraisers in the Customs.

 For state level jobs in Customs & Excise the selection is through State Public Service Commission allied services exam.

Direct Selection

Computerized systems

Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS)

Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS)

Indian Railway Personnel Service (IRPS)

Railway Protection Force (RPF)

Politics is a lifelong pursuit. It cuts across all other professions, service and careers, for distinction in any of them may be the passport for distinction in politics also. One may not have to hold an office in government to be acclaimed as a political leader. Mahatma Gandhi and Jai Prakash Narain  did not hold officers.

 While public life starts right from membership of a village panchyat,district board, a municipality or a municipal corporation besides many other official and non-official organizations and formums in various areas of social life.Study and Training.